Tomorrow Is Another Country

Michael De Cock & Trui Chielens

A girl is hiding in the back of a lorry. She’s sharing the space with a horse, her mum, and Captain Compass, her best friend. They’re on their way to another country, where the walls don’t dance and the houses don’t fall, and where the sky doesn’t rumble like thunder when there’s not a cloud to be seen. The girl has to be silent. Luckily, she’s a world champion at silence.

A poetic and important story

JaapLeest

As the girl tries to stay awake, so that she can keep an eye on her sleeping mother, she thinks about space travel, hiding places, and her city, where everything is broken and she had to choose which cuddly toy to take. ‘“We’re only taking ourselves,” said Dad. “You can’t leave yourself behind.” But he was so wrong.’

With poetic turns of phrase, Michaël De Cock follows the girl as she seems to go off at various tangents. The harsh reality and the girl’s boundless imagination keep each other in balance. ‘Tomorrow Is Another Country’ is a light book about a weighty subject, enchantingly illustrated by Trui Chielens.

Impactful, but never too weighty. Shows shameful current realities that get deep under the skin.